Rick Corsini

Andre Jardini and Gwen Freeman live in a stately Craftsman that was among the first homes built at the top of Mt. Washington. Designed by architect H.M. Patterson in 1909, the J.B. Merrill House, as it is called, was declared a city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 1990. So when it came to adding a detached art studio, it might seem surprising that architect Rick Corsini would design a modern structure to complement the shingle-sided house. The couple, however, both lawyers, were not slaves to Craftsman architecture.

Alexander Coler stood on what is soon to be the floor of his dining room, a room that will comfortably seat 50 with a glass floor that will look down into the indoor swimming pool below, a pool outfitted with changeable colored lights and a paddle to gracefully churn the water. "The architect who designed this house thought this would be a nice crowning point to my career," says Coler, a builder and developer. "But I've always been low-key and not ostentatious in any way.